A grassroots organization focused on acceleratingthe transition to a vibrant clean-energy economy.

We advocate for carbon reduction policies that are effective, equitable, economically sound, evidence-based, and politically feasible.

Carbon Washington is part of ACT NOW

ACT NOW (Advocates for a Carbon Tax NOW) is a growing coalition of volunteers and more than 30 organizations including Carbon Washington, Audubon Washington, Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), League of Women Voters, American Sustainable Business Council, Conservatives for Environmental Reform, and others that want to see a carbon tax pass here in Washington State.

News

After a decade of inaction on climate change, our elected leaders have a duty and obligation to enact public policy to reduce carbon. It is clear that people in Washington want action. The legislature’s continued failure to do so is disturbing.

SB 6203 made history as the first carbon tax in the country to be voted out of two legislative committees, and by coming within a single vote or two in the Senate. The support from environmental, tribal, and business interests was groundbreaking and builds on considerable progress in Washington to elevate a conversation about climate change and a price on carbon. While I-732, the nation’s first carbon tax initiative put to Washington voters in 2016 didn’t pass at the polls, it was the basis for four carbon pricing bills introduced in the 2017 legislature, and created an opportunity for the legislature to seriously consider SB 6203 in the 2018 session.

Climate action in Washington is coming. Opponents of this bill achieved little beyond a temporary delay in our inevitable trajectory toward a clean energy future. Carbon Washington will now focus its efforts on putting a price on carbon this year at the ballot or next year in the legislature.

Future generations are counting on us, and we will continue to mobilize citizens, provide leadership, and advocate for effective, equitable, economically sound, evidence-based, and politically feasible policies to address climate change.

Hello, CarbonWA friends: Thanks for tuning in for another chapter in the carbon tax saga!

Carbon Tax Passes Ways and Means Committee (!)

The carbon tax bill that we’ve been supporting, SB 6203, passed out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Thursday evening. While this vote contained fewer fireworks than the Environment Committee session, it was no less important. You can watch the executive session here.

This vote comes on the heels of our virtual lobby day which we are confident had a positive impact. A huge thank you to the 25 volunteer phonebankers who helped us generate over 1,000 recruitment calls, resulting in many hundreds of constituent calls to legislators urging them to take action on climate and put a price on carbon!

The next step for the carbon tax is the Rules Committee, which can also accept amendments and send the bill to the Senate floor. If the bill passes out of the Senate, it has to repeat the process in the House unless it gets wrapped up in the budget process which plays by expedited rules. At this point, we can’t say what the ultimate fate of the bill will be. (more…)

Since the beginning of the 2018 legislative session multiple climate bills, including a carbon tax, have been introduced, a carbon tax passed out of the Senate Environment Committee, the Seattle Times endorsed a carbon tax moving forward, the papers have been flooded by letters to the editor about climate, John Kerry stopped by to help out, and we cosponsored a climate lobby day with over 200 attendees. We are making progress.

But, we cannot let up. It is over halfway through the legislative session and right now the Senate Ways and Means Committee is considering a price on carbon in the form of SB 6203. But, they haven’t scheduled a vote and it’s not clear if they are going to take action. Our best guess is that they are counting votes in the Senate before moving it further along so we need to call every legislator to rally support for the bill. We need your help.

Today we are going to ring the phones off the hook in Olympia to make sure our lawmakers know they need to act on climate to maintain the support of their constituents! (If you are reading this after Monday . . . please still call!) (more…)

WA farmers can profit while helping solve #climatechange, especially with a #carbontax. Good discussion of economic and environmental factors involved in #biofuel crops – and why we need to #pricepollution.

"Carlyle and Fitzgibbon expressed optimism about success in a year or two, saying legislators need time to get used to the concept... Inslee noted that the carbon tax proposal got farther.. than ever before. He said: “We’ll be back in January.”"
#CarbonTax

Washington state may not have passed a #CarbonTax in the legislative session, but we are committed to making moves on this issue.
"There's nothing left or right about avoiding an environmental disaster."
#WaLeg #Carbon #ClimateAction

"Julia Olson, executive director of @youthvgov... welcomed the decision. “It will be the first time that climate science and the federal government’s role in creating its dangers will go on trial in a U.S. court.”"

Carl Borgquist, the president & CEO of Absaroka Energy shares that his company "proposes to spend more than $1 billion to build a pumped-storage project to even out the roller-coaster flows of #wind and #solar #energy."#AlternativeEnergy @seattletimes

What People Are Saying About Reducing Carbon Pollution

“I’m a Republican. I believe that the greenhouse effect is real, that CO2 emissions generated by man is creating our greenhouse gas effect that traps heat, and the planet is warming. A price on carbon — that’s the way to go in my view.”

—
Lindsey Graham, United States Senator, R-SC

A carbon tax is a good starting point for working toward eventual state and federal agreements that put a price on carbon emissions. If national elder statesmen in the Republican Party can take this idea seriously, so should other Republicans in our statehouse and in Congress. The same goes for Democrats.

—
The Olympian

"Climate change is the biggest market failure of our time. If the United States is to continue to lead and innovate, we must move away from fossil fuels and focus on developing clean, inexpensive, renewable energy sources. A price on carbon is the best policy to promote this change."

—
Jim McDermott, Former U.S. Representative (D-WA 7th District)

Scientists and economists agree that the most effective way to free ourselves from fossil fuels is to stop the free lunch for polluters.

—
Sightline Institute

"Only when 'the economic and social costs of using up shared environmental resources are recognized with transparency and fully borne by those who incur them, not by other peoples or future generations,’ [Pope Benedict XVI] can those actions be considered ethical."

—
Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter “Laudato si”

The optimal solution is a carbon tax (offset by equivalent tax cuts elsewhere) — the most efficient and market-friendly way to address the negative externalities of energy use. But that approach is highly transparent and less susceptible to manipulation by special-interest lobbying than complicated regulatory schemes. No wonder it never gets any traction.

—
Richmond Times-Dispatch

“I think that climate change is real. I think that one of the great tragedies of our lives is the Great Barrier Reef dying [and] the environmental consequences of that."

—
John McCain, United States Senator (R-Arizona)

It is time for more of our elected leaders to join [Governor] Inslee, [and Senators] Carlyle and Palumbo in giving this major issue the attention and care it deserves.

—
Seattle Times Editorial, Feb. 5, 2018

"If national governments won't take action, your community can . . . We can move our economy town-by-town, state-by-state to renewable energy and a sustainable future." (Watch this dramatic video narrated by DiCaprio.)

—
Leonardo DiCaprio, Actor and environmentalist

Who We Are

Carbon Washington consists of students, activists, scientists, economists and concerned citizens across the state. All of us believe that we have a moral obligation to reduce carbon pollution and promote clean, renewable energy.

In 2016, we mounted a statewide campaign to pass Initiative 732 — the revenue-neutral carbon tax we proposed. Economists say carbon taxes are the single-most effective way to get polluters to stop polluting. More than 360,000 citizens signed our petition (a near-record number).

Our initiative was endorsed by a bipartisan group of citizens, business leaders, scientists, economists, public officials, and social and environmental leaders. It attracted worldwide attention. And although the measure did not pass, more than 1.25 million Washingtonians voted in favor of I-732.

Now Carbon Washington is charting its future. We are focused on making an impact in 2018 at the state and local level. We’re exploring 2018 ballot measures, legislative bills, and actions that cities can take to cut carbon and unleash clean energy.

Longer-term, we are evolving into an organization that will help design, promote and pass carbon-reduction policies — policies that are effective, equitable, economically sound, evidence-based, and politically feasible — in Washington State and elsewhere.

You can help us by signing up for our weekly email blast, connecting with us on Facebook and Twitter, and donating so we can do the hard work that needs to be done. You can also join one of our chapters across the state.